The most common temptation that Protestants admit to is eating too much, according to a Barna study.

Compared with Catholics (44 percent) and the rest of the American public (55 percent), Protestants (66 percent) are most likely to say they are often or sometimes tempted by eating too much.

On other temptations, Protestants struggle on a similar level as other American adults. Fifty-eight percent of Protestants (vs. 60 percent all adults) say they are tempted by worrying or being anxious; 57 percent of Protestants (vs. 60 percent all adults) say they struggle with procrastinating; 42 percent (vs. 44 percent all adults) say spending too much time on media is often or sometimes a temptation; and 40 percent (vs. 41 percent all adults) list being lazy or "not working as hard as you should" as a struggle....

Angela Wittman wrote:Right now I am trying to lose a few pounds for the new year due to baking and eating too many cookies and have found myself backsliding - so perhaps I am just trying to make myself feel less guilt.

FYI, there is an iPad app which will read food-label barcodes & track daily calorie consumption so one can ration. Don't know if this is idolatry or not

Eat too much rice? This will help: Consumer Reports says that much American rice, esp. from the central South, has significant amounts of arsenic, possibly traceable to when boll weevil pesticides were applied on cotton formerly grown on the same land. Even organic rice brands like Lundberg are affected. Is it a real problem or not? As Minnesotans say, I dunno, who can tell? If you want to play it safe, buy rice imported from India ‚ÄĒ until they find out what's wrong with that in turn.

Sorry for delay in responding to Neil from Tucson - I am inclined to agree with you and get concerned when I and others become so focused on our food/calorie intake that it becomes an "idol." Moderation in all things not forbidden is the key principle I get from Scripture. Right now I am trying to lose a few pounds for the new year due to baking and eating too many cookies and have found myself backsliding - so perhaps I am just trying to make myself feel less guilt.

Too much of the health food industry claims are based on junk science. Like the Alar scare with apples was a hoax. Or the DDT was bad for humans, people ATE it by the spoonful with NO adverse effects. The problem with temptation is Christians not making sure we have put on the whole armor of God, and using the sword of the Spirit effectively in our battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation, and fight the good fight of faith still apply today.

Angela Wittman wrote:Could it be Protestants actually have some sort of knowledge that gluttony is a sin while some of the other faiths don't? If so, praise the Lord that not all of our Puritan Heritage has been forgotten.

Amen.

People today focus too much on feeling good and being happy, but feeling bad is actually better if it results from genuine conviction of genuine sin (gluttony, etc.) that needs to be repented of.

jpw wrote:John UK -- to answer your question, please forgive my simplicity if you already are doing these things....fermented foods are awesome. if you can get your hands on raw milk -- in the least organic, and ferment it into yogurt, you've got yourself a garden in your kitchen. or look into the fermented vegetables. weston price has a book called nourishing traditions ...

Thanks jpw, I have also found and bookmarked the weston site and will have a good look at that when time permits. The nutritional content in modern foods is greatly reduced from years ago, so that even eating fruit and veg does not do the good it once did. And I wonder what value the commercial seed would be if I decided to grow much of mine own.

I know the food intake issue is well worth investigating, as I have witnessed an incredible change in health by people who changed their eating habit, drank more water, got more fresh air and exercise, avoided stress, and other.

Of course, with a massive increase in interest in diet, so too there is a massive increase in capitalists hoping to making a killing from the new market, and not everything they produce is beneficial. But it sells well, and makes their graph chart go in the right direction.

John UK -- to answer your question, please forgive my simplicity if you already are doing these things....

fermented foods are awesome. if you can get your hands on raw milk -- in the least organic, and ferment it into yogurt, you've got yourself a garden in your kitchen. or look into the fermented vegetables. weston price has a book called nourishing traditions ... but recipes abound online. many have lost weight just with fermented foods (to stay on topic). nutrition and digestibility of food increases with these things and the ingredients are simple. salt, organic vegetables, a culture starter if you want, and correct application is it. also, sproutable beans are easy to grow in the kitchen in a few days. sooner or later we'll all be hiding chickens in our basements -- the common things of long ago are becoming the in demand commodities.

cilantro is a great cleanser for the body and easy to grow in a pot.

soon- I didn't see your post before. Great verses, and I tend to agree with your line of thinking -- the spiritual depravity seen in the hunger of the people.

Neil -- things have changed in the last 10-20 years. what may sound bizarre to you may just be the changing times.

Titus 111 who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach, for the sake of sordid gain.12 One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons."13 This testimony is true. For this cause reprove them severely that they may be sound in the faith,---NASB

Don't be a spiritual Cretan. You also won't have to use Obamacare as much if you eat sensibly, exercise, etc.

grateful servant wrote:Neil - I'm not sure you should write off everything jpw says on this topic. It's like you would rather take the evolution approach to health and wellness.

Quite the opposite ‚Äď¬†as I said, I take the Scriptural approach to eating, where it is written that the Kingdom of God is not meat & drink (Rom 14:17, Col 2:16), & thus we are not to blame those who do not share our nutritional opinions. And of course we should not eat to excess, whether it has MSG in it or not.

If anyone is taking an ‚Äúevolution‚ÄĚ¬†approach to health, it is those who appeal to science in making truth claims. Neither Darwinism, biochemistry, nor physiology are true; they are merely fallible models of how nature works. Neither atheists nor many Christians these days seem to grasp this.

Maybe you were helped by the Weston Price Foundation, but they aren't God, so what's that to me?

Neil - I'm not sure you should write off everything jbw says on this topic. It's like you would rather take the evolution approach to health and wellness. Believe me - their approach always goes in the wrong direction. Yes, as long as we have had dainties we have had people with over eating issues. I cant help but think of Eglon in Judges 3 and these verses from Proverbs 23:2-3 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.

But the issue i see doesent end with how much you eat. Its a part of it - but it stands to reason if God made us and he made food for us - introducing a glutt of synthetic chemical flavors, preservatives, anti foaming agents and on and on....we would experence amplified health issues.

I have also recieved much health help from the weston price foundation and their work.